Philia (φιλία)
by Arget Cross
Summary: As his friend, Haura can hardly blame Chrom for being distraught over what happened in Plegia. As his tactician, she doesn't have much patience left. They march or they die. Or in which Haura tries to navigate her relationship with her commander and her own place among tragedy. Also, Gaius is a nosy friend. (Part of series where I write everything all the friendship fics. @U@)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Chrom." Haura had been calling his name as she sloshed through the mud to his position in the ranks. Even as her voice raised in pitch and irritation, he did not turn around. She could not help her sharp tone, for she could not summon the energy to mask her increasing desperation. Panic was the only thing that kept her on her feet.

Chrom's eyes were unfocused, still searching in the wet air, for that sand filled battlefield all those miles behind them. Haura grabbed his shoulder and she yanked him to her attention.

"What- Haura! What is it?" he said, looking genuinely startled, and Haura scowled. So he had actually just not been paying attention. She let her hand fall to her side.

"What if I had been an enemy arrow? We're still deep in Plegia, Chrom!" Then Haura took a deep breath and settled her nerves. Taking her grief out on the man who could see nothing but his own pain hardly felt right or good. She had to do that thing, what the Shepards did for one another when one of their own had fallen in battle: that lie-through-your-teeth, platitude filled, comforting thing.

Ironically, Chrom had been the one who talked her through her first tragedy in this new life and he was the one who taught her the tricks. Haura remembered trying to hide her crying as the coffin was lowered into the ground. Emmeryn had blessed the ceremony and while her sadness had seemed depressingly radiant, Haura had just felt crushing despondency. Chrom had come to her then, with practice sword in hand, and they spent the afternoon walloping each other's sadness out of the other. They had only stopped when Frederick had intervened with a stern lecture over the number of bruises that peppered both of their skins.

Haura flexed her fist and remembered when Sumia punched Chrom right in the jaw. To have seen her mild mannered friend turn furious, for her to have to take action against her commander, was just enough shock to galvanize them. Something about punching Chrom, although alluring, also did not sit right for this moment. Perhaps violence in general would not be the most effective cure at the moment, Haura reckoned.

"We need to change our marching lines. I fear we'll be walking straight into an ambush and the mess of our lines would mean slaughter. I don't want us to scatter and then picked off one by one." She advised even as she knew she had no actions or words that could change the past, let alone remove the scene that played over and over again in Chrom's eyes. What he saw as he continuously glanced back could only be that moment of Emmeryn falling over and over again.

She knew because she too could not forget. None of them could. But she had kept her eyes forward because she saw the rain that soaked through their cloaks, the twisted hillside with enough shadows to hide armies, and the way their army plodded with their eyes watching the earth. Each step took them closer to Regna Ferox, to a place where she could collapse and sob without fear for the army's morale. Haura clung onto that desperation.

"...Right, tell Khan Basilio and Frederick for me. We can open our scout formation a little larger as well, if you suspect an ambush." Chrom said and Haura looked at him in surprise. Chrom never delegated unless he was truly occupied with something else. Being the hands-on commander, he was always right there by his soldiers side with an rallying word.

It had become obvious to her that Chrom's silence had seeped into all the Shepards like poison in a well, compounded with everyone's individual pains from the day. They had been fleeing the battlefield in a slovenly mess. Haura frequently saw Sully or Frederick pick up their comrades out of the mud by the scruff of their neck to ride behind them. Basilio would clap soldiers dragging their feet upon the back and, having been on the receiving end of such encouragement once, Haura definitely quickened her feet to avoid his concern. Everyone was understandably exhausted, but with the exalt and the pegasus knights' death looming over them, mere weariness turned into hopelessness and weakening resolve. And their leader, whom they loved and looked to beyond all else, had only a blacker mood to offer them. And Haura was hardly unaffected by the feeling of despair that permeated the air.

"...is there something else, Haura?" Chrom asked after he realized she had not said a word in the last couple moments. Took him a while too, as he had turned his head back to the horizon again.

Well, enough was enough. Haura lost her patience all at once. "By gods, if we're going to get out of here alive, we need you to pay attention. Can't you see the army right in front of your eyes? So put some effort into being our leader!" she snapped.

As her words hung in the air, Haura blanched. Chrom stopped moving and stared at her in shock. The Shepards around them parted awkwardly and Haura could see, out of the corner of her eye, that Nowi had been upset and started crying. Some part of her was defensive, because everything she said had been truth. But, the guilt at having yelled at a broken man and _her friend_ quickly overpowered her own pride. She could not meet his eyes anymore. Apparently all she was suited for was to be his tactician, because Haura knew now she was a terrible friend.

"...I'm sorry, Haura. I've been a poor leader. Everyone is still risking their lives and I repaid them with weakness." Chrom said and the words sounded like poison to Haura's ears. He clapped her shoulder and his arm had none of the confident strength Haura realized she had leaned on. "I'll go speak with Basilio. Thank you for your help, my friend."

That felt like a slap to the face and Haura nodded numbly. "I'll talk to Gaius and the rest of the scouts." she muttered.

Chrom thanked her again and then hurried to catch Basilio whose long strides had placed him at the front of his ranks. Haura began to march again, trying to avoid the looks for the Shepards around her.

"You okay, Haura?" Stahl called down from his horse. Lissa rode tandem with him and she had ducked her head low under the hood of her cloak. From the occasional shaking of her hunched shoulders, Haura could tell Lissa had clearly not stopped crying since they left the battlefield.

"Don't worry about me. I need to find Gaius." Haura said as she also pulled her coat tighter around her shoulders. Her hood no longer shielded her face from the rain as it had been soaked through a while ago. Haura tugged it even lower to hide her tear-filled eyes. Crying was a luxury she did not deserve and so she hid it in shame with gritted teeth.

She pushed her way through the lines to Gaius' position. The possibility of ambush was a legitimate fear and even now she could feel the sightlines of invisible archers on her back. Her fingers tightened their grip on her coat and she could feel them shake. What she needed to do now was get everyone safely to Regna Ferox as soon as possible.

Right, because the tactician whose plans led to the death of Emmeryn and Phila and so many others should clearly be responsible for all their survivals. She was the one that forced Chrom to abandon his sister's body, so it could be trumped up like a perverse puppet. If she was not completely sure that Chrom had no room in his body for other emotions besides hollowing despair, she would be sure he must hate her.

Where was Emmeryn's peace to be found now? And what if they all died here, in the muck, with her hand trying to reach for him, but with nothing to offer? Haura had thought she had learned her lesson in arrogance in Ylisstol, when she stood over Kellam's grave. The weight of a human life within her care, while heavy when she killed enemy soldiers and robbed Plegian mothers of their children, became nearly unbearable when she watched a comrade die by her side. Haura acknowledged the prejudice, of how human life lost on her side of the war was a tragedy and, on the other side, a victory. It did not lessen the many nights she woke up, slumped over her books, in cold sweat.

Still, as Chrom's praise had flowed too freely and the Shepards gave her warm arms and ruffled hair to return to in victory, perhaps she had not learned her lesson at all. And if she had no tactics that could save Emmeryn, she had become worse than a useless asset. She had been the one to condemn all of them to their deaths.

All these thoughts cycled violently in her head and Haura did not dare voice a single one of them out loud. When Sumia punched Chrom in the sunny Ylissean field, what felt like an eternity ago, she had done exactly what Haura did now. And she had been right- the morale of the army had to be safeguarded even if it was built on a lie. The difference between a soldier with or without hope was their life. Haura was learning the importance of deceit in the name of strategy.

"Gaius!" Haura called and the thief slipped over to her side.

"Hey, Bubbles, you want a sweet?" Gaius said. Haura was thrown for a loop and only gaped at him for a bit. "Seriously. Offer of the lifetime. Going once…"

"You're offering me some of your beloved candy? Is this charity? Was I shot down by an archer and I hadn't realized I entered some higher plane of existence where Gaius gives me candy?" Haura said.

"Hey, I share my candy. Just not my secret stash. But in this rain, all the lollies are gonna melt and I thought putting five in my mouth at once would be a little excessive, even for me. Look, I'll give you a bear shaped one. I know how you like bears." He said and waved the pink lollypop that looked like a teddy bear's head in her face.

"I like bear meat. There's a difference. And not now, Gaius, we're going to march straight into an ambush. I need to strategize and I cannot do that with a lollypop in my- mmph!"

Gaius had shoved the lollypop in her mouth as she was speaking. Even as Haura glared at him, he only gave her a cheeky grin. "Come on, admit you like it."

When she tasted what was in her mouth, Haura conceded sweet was not bad and shifted it into her cheek so she could talk. "Don't ever do that again."

"You're welcome, Bubbles. Listen, I know you can't just lighten up with what happened today, but try to not be so hard on yourself, yeah? You've been glowering at everyone all afternoon. Even Blue was scared silly by you."

Haura exhaled loudly through her nose before pulling off her hood. It had started to feel suffocating. Her red-rimmed eyes met Gaius'. "I'm hardly the one who needs comforting right now- maybe you can kiss Chrom's wounds better instead. Naga knows how I just excel at making everyone feel worse. I'll stick to my maps, thank you very much."

"Eh, kissing nobilities' ass was never my calling, even if it is Blue. And don't sweat it. I...don't feel too great right now either." And Haura remembered that Gaius was part of Emmeryn's assassination team just several battles ago. "But if there is anything I learned as a thief is that it usually gets better after a couple sunrises. Just gotta stay alive until then."

Haura nodded slowly and Gaius ruffled her hair. Matching gingers, they were. Her damp hair did not fluff easily. "Don't mess up my ponytail again." Haura grumbled.

"And when we get back to Ylisstol, you can buy me another lollypop. There's a great place by the fountain square-" There it was again, that implicit trust.

"Why don't I just kill a bear for you instead? A bear for a bear?" Haura said. Her smile felt rusty but she tried to mimic his, right down to the lollypop stick waggling in her mouth.

"Was that a joke? I am a miracle worker...but, er, please don't kill a bear for me."

Haura shoved his shoulder, the grin coming easier to her face now, and he laughed again. "Anyway, serious business." she said, "The Plegians will almost definitely use their border army to stage an ambush- either in the swampmire or between the valleys-"

"Not another word, Bubbles. Reconnaissance is a piece of cake. I'll get the scouts to check the mountain slope from the other side and I'll go down to the mire." Gaius reassured her.

"Stay safe. I'll buy you a whole cake, if you want, if- when we get out of this." Haura said, words garbled with the hard candy clacking against her teeth.

"You're a true friend. Love ya, Bubbles." Gaius gave her a pale-lipped grin, slapped her on the back, and dashed away into the rain-filled darkness. Her fond smile faded once he disappeared out of her sight. As she turned back to the army lines, the mantra thrummed in her heart- she just had to get through this day. She would apologize to Chrom, beg forgiveness from the Shepards, and cry in her room, but only if she got to the next sunrise.

The sucker left the stale tang of sugar in her mouth as she bit down on it and shattered it in her mouth.

* * *

A/N: Philia is "wanting for someone what one thinks good, for his sake and not for one's own, and being inclined, so far as one can, to do such things for him".

Necessary and noble, "no one would choose to live without friends even if he had all the other goods" (Aristotle).

Part of my series on the Greek four types of love (philia, storge, eros, and agape) to examine a tactician's ties with her army from all angles. Hope you enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The battle had been going well, almost stunningly so, despite the odds and grimness that followed every soldier. Haura was careful not to become overly confident as luck had already proven to not be on their side this day. She rode with Sumia in order to run to wherever needed aid as quickly as possible. As they rose into the sky, Haura tried to stay focused on her task of surveying the battlefield, despite her rising nausea. The rain still poured down hard and the turbulent storm winds meant the pegasus lurched around to avoid throwing her riders. Haura had thrown her arms around Sumia's waist in an attempt to steady her sinking stomach and avoid the sensation of falling every time she leaned over to look down at the field.

A particularly strong gust blew them sideways and Sumia, out of reflex, lowered herself flush to her pegasus' neck. Haura was dragged forward and found her face buried in Sumia's damp hair. They jerked upwards and Sumia guided them to a calmer airstream. Once they were gliding along again, Sumia straightened back up, but Haura remained clinging to her and shivering.

"Uh, Haura, are you alright?" Sumia said and her pitying look failed to make Haura feel better. Haura shook her head into Sumia's hair.

"Maybe we should...stay closer to the ground. Ugh…" the tactician said weakly. Sumia stifled what sounded like a laugh, a blow to Haura's pride, and nodded. As they swooped back down, Haura gagged and swallowed back some of the vomit in her mouth.

Despite her reservation with flying, being aloft gave her an excellent view of the narrow canyons that filled the mire. The way the terrain divided up the Shepards meant Sumia and Cordelia flew back and forth over the canyon walls as convoys and supports while the rest of the army had to confront their enemy all the way down the corridors.

At least spirits were marginally higher than a couple hours ago. The Plegian armies' confidence in their justice had been shattered with Emmeryn's sacrifice. Haura had planned to use the enemies' disarray to their advantage and pushed a strategy that only made it easier to psychologically manipulate them.

"Sumia, I think they're trying to pincer Chrom's corridor. Let's stop them now."

"Here goes!" Sumia said and Haura felt her stomach lurch again.

As they plummeted into combat against a wyvern rider, Haura chanted the stratagems to stave off dizziness.

_First Stratagem: Beat the grass to scare the snake._

Haura would place Chrom in one of the two vanguards and Frederick in the second. They would unfurl all their banners and hang them at half mast, especially the gleaming blue flag with the Brand of the Exalt. Unflinchingly they would march into the canyons- confident in their strength despite what would seem to be strategic foolhardy. The display of presence and majesty, noble in suffering, would awe even the most hardhearted of Plegians and make them remember the ghost of Emmeryn that stretched over all of them.

_Second Stratagem: Openly repair the walkway, but sneak through a hidden passageway._

Basilio had objected at first to this step. Feroxi men and women fought through the strength of their arms and so all soldiers may partake in the glory of defending their homeland. To place the bulk of the army in a display of extravagance while some assassin skulked around the back to kill the commander was an insult to Feroxi pride.

Haura agreed her methods were not honorable by any sense of the word but she had argued for the prudence of time. The terrain meant if they took traditional lines and went up the canyons, they would be besieged in every direction and each step would have to be won by the death of an enemy soldier. And the longer they fought, the more their resolve would solidify against them, seeing them not as Emmeryn's people, but simply the enemy. And Tharja had confirmed for her a little earlier that Gangrel was hardly an iconic beacon of charisma for the Plegian army. Hence the final step-

_Third Stratagem: Defeat the enemy by capturing the chief._

If the soldiers did not fight for Gangrel and the whispers of desertion were true, then they would fight for their immediate commander, the one who lived and died with them. So if they took out the commander as quickly as possible, they could potentially achieve their escape without having to fight through the entire border guard.

"The other possibility is the men will seek vengeance and fight us until their deaths." Chrom pointed out. Haura looked up in surprise. While Chrom usually was very active in strategy meetings, he had not said anything for entire duration of this one, "If these are the type of men who love their leader to the grave, desperation hones the dullest blade. Could we take that risk?"

Haura felt a heavy weight fall on her shoulders. She had not forgotten what her last gambit, a half-day ago, had led to with its risks. Nor could she forget the trust she did not deserve he placed on her when she had lost her temper with him. He was ceding responsibility and asking for her judgment. All which fed a growing doubt in her mind.

"...we could also just push through the closest canyon as quickly as possible- but there's no guarantee we'll break through before reinforcements come. Um…" she said.

"Don't second-guess yourself so much. It makes a man uneasy, ha ha!" Basilio cut in. "The boy has a point, but you have to take those sorts of risks. It's not in your slippery Ylissean nature to do this the Ferox way."

"Chrom's my commander. If he thinks it's too risky, I should listen to him." Haura muttered and looked down at the rough map.

"...ah no, I think this is fine. I'll tell the Shepards to prepare for battle." Chrom said and Haura did not have to look up to know he was distracted again.

Between Sumia's lance and her lightning, they fended off the potential pincer attack from the wyvern riders. As they alighted on top of one of the canyons to catch their breath, Haura furtively cast a glance out far west. There was one, maybe two, riders who formed the rearguard. All the other forces had swarmed on the Shepards. Haura let a small exhale relief and, determined to not give up her gamble, kept her gaze fixed on their next piece of prey.

xx

"Tharja can protect you from the wyvern riders, but try not to get noticed in the first place. She'll send up a flare if you do get spotted and can't escape from being swarmed. Cordelia and Sumia will bring me and Lon'qu over." Haura briefed Gaius as they buckled themselves into their armor and weapons.

"You worry too much, Bubbles. They don't call me Gaius the Nimble for nothing. Although, did you have to send me with the creepy girl-"

"Haura, did you call my name?" Tharja said as she melted out of the shadows. Both Gaius and Haura jumped a couple inches.

"Hah…Tharja, right, this is Gaius and I was just telling him about the plan. Ah, could you, um, letgoofmyarm?" Haura said, her voice rising in pitch as Tharja clung to her. Despite the downpour, the dark mage still was not wearing much and pressing herself against Haura in a way that Gaius could only describe as lustful.

"I abhor the rain." she muttered. Haura looked pityingly at the dark mage's soaked cloak and the way her thin shoulders hunched. That cloak was the only part of her ensemble that Gaius would not consider smallclothes.

"Have you considered wearing a coat?" Gaius cut in and Tharja scowled at him.

"I could lend you one- hey, that would be a good strategy sometime. If the enemy can't tell who is the real commander or it looks like there are several, it would mass confusion-" Haura rambled herself into a pensive state even as Tharja would not let go of her arm and Haura's face got redder.

Tharja, on the other hand, looked conflicted before mumbling, "As much as I would love your warm coat around my body, it wouldn't do if you caught a chill. Hee…"

"Haura, can I talk to you for a moment? ...privately." Gaius said and slid a sideways glance at Tharja. Haura looked up in surprise at his forgo of her nickname and returned his seriousness.

"Ah, sure. Tharja, can you please let go?" Haura asked. After tossing a sullen look at Gaius, Tharja released Haura's arm.

The two walked a few paces away from others before Gaius started. "Not to say your plan is weird, but… Blue just recruited this disturbing girl from Plegian front lines. And you're making her go on the most important mission of this battle. I mean, sure, I could do it alone, if she does nothing but snicker in the back, but if she backstabs me, well…"

Haura fixed him with a critical eye. "Didn't we recruit you the same way?"

"Right, but I'm not an overly attached, curse throwing nutcase. Let's just say Blue's methods are a gamble. You won the pot with this fine piece of eye-candy here, but with Sunshine over there…"

"...if you're that worried, I can go with you instead. I don't think Miriel or Ricken are up for a long stealth mission after the last battle. But I cannot emphasize enough Tharja is literally the perfect fit for this mission. Her dark magic is top class. I don't really know what to make of her attachment to me, but it means I know she won't betray me. I've never met someone so… quickly devoted. And her being Plegian is a double edged weapon! That could only help you more to pass through enemy lines without suspicion. But, if you think the risk is too great..." Haura trailed off. She knew the longer she spoke, the more wishy washy she sounded.

Gaius shook his head and Haura began to run the changes she would have to make to their formations. Maybe if Virion could ride with Sumia to snipe the wyverns out of the sky instead...

"I can't believe it! You've fallen straight for this honeypot!" The mirth on Gaius' face left him chortling. Haura blinked.

"Wait, so you'll do it? And what is a honeypot?" Haura asked suspiciously as she had the distinct feeling she was being had.

"Yea, I'll do it. And a honeypot- well, look it up in one of your fancy strategy books. Speak of the devil," Gaius said as Tharja came over.

"Chrom said everyone's ready." she drawled before looking at the pair of them closely, "...Did you do something to Haura?" Tharja demanded.

Haura cleared her throat and shook her head. "Listen, you both are plenty capable, but don't take any risks. Look after each other's backs. I trust you both to be in one piece when we get to the castle." she left, but not before hearing them begin to snipe at each other.

"If you make me fail, I'll hex you from the sea and back again."

"Ha, good one, Sunshine, careful you don't give our position away with your blinding brilliance."

It was odd how much better her mood was after that.

xx

During their hasty strategy briefing, the army had been told to fight and move as quickly as possible. The longer they tarried, the more likely Gaius and Tharja would be left without backup after the assassination and reinforcements would swarm in. Still, the appearance of nobility and confusion in Plegian ranks was not enough to prevent the intense battering Frederick's and Chrom's groups were facing.

Dead Plegians littered the mud and it had become clear to Haura that the first stratagem had not been wholly successful. They had killed enough of the enemy that Plegian soldiers now fought without hesitation for their comrades-in-arms and thus the corridors in the canyons were turning into full on brawls.

One Shepard had already been majorly injured. Nowi's feral battle with a wyvern rider ended up with a dead wyvern and a heavily bitten manakete. Nowi barely had enough energy to fly back into the lines. She had crashed with iridescent shards exploding around her. Coughing and bleeding, Nowi had reverted back to human-form and curled up in the imprint of her dragonbody in the mud. Lon'qu had dashed in to grab her prone body before anyone else blinked. Frederick, Sully and Cordelia, who had scattered at Nowi's fall, regathered to protect her. The small dragon child had been ferried to the back of the lines where Maribelle alternated between scolding and healing her.

"We're not moving fast enough." Haura muttered, careful to not bite her tongue as Sumia's pegasus cantered up into the air. Reinforcements had already begun to creep in from the south and soon they too would come up the canyons. All the northern landed units had massed in the corridors like a plug and Haura could see the narrow passage was minimizing their ability to engage the enemy. The archers and mages always had to remain well in the safety of the lead cavaliers' and knights' range.

The key here was to maximize their ability to move forward. Chrom's group occupied the corridor closer to the enemy fort and Haura made her decision.

She told Sumia, "Pair up with Cordelia and loop around to strike their rear from the hills. Chrom and I will lead a charge forward. We'll turn their strategy on their head and smash them in between us. And that way Virion and Miriel can pick off any wyvern riders before they reach you."

Sumia descended close enough to the ground that Haura could jump into the squelching mud. The tactician's legs trembled a little. She had not realized she had been clenching her body so tightly.

"Thanks."

"You got it! Stay safe." Sumia said as she rocketed off back into the air. Haura nodded before running to Chrom's side.

Seeing him on the ground, Haura realized Chrom's state of mind had swung from distracted to fixated. He was a lot further ahead than the rest of his group as he charged ahead and downed any Plegian that dared venture into his range. He was too far ahead, even, and if any soldier got past him or he got overwhelmed, crossing that distance to provide aid would be impossible. It was not like him to lose himself in the heat of battle under usual circumstances. But then again, as Haura remembered how he had roared when General Mustafa's messenger spoke Emmeryn's name, these were hardly usual circumstances.

"I'm here to back you up, Chrom!" she called to alert him to her presence. Chrom was trading blows against a mounted unit with his dirt-splattered white cape slapping his back and did not dare look away to respond. Haura threw herself into battle by his side, shooting lightning towards an incoming wyvern rider. The magic in these weather conditions turned slightly wild, crackling and sweeping across the sky. While they looked harried and injured, the blow had not finished them and they dove down to meet Haura for a blow.

Haura barely dodged the axe stroke - gods, how had the footsoldiers been fighting in this mud for the last hour?- and, as she tried to incant another spell, she had to pause in order to peel apart the wet pages of the tome. In the air, she had kept it under her coat, as stupid as it had looked, but reflex had caused her to whip it out into her hands. It had endured the burning hot sands where it warped under her fingers and now the pelting rain made it sag in her hands.

The wyvern rider surged forward during Haura's fumbling hesitation. With a snarl, Haura dropped the tome into the mud, leapt forward, and unsheathed her blade into the wyvern rider's neck. As he died, she dropped on onto the wyvern's neck, gripping its thrashing head with her legs, and brought her blade around sharply to rip through the soft underbelly of its neck. They hit the ground in a mess of dragon and armor and Haura rolled herself out of the crash with nary an injury. She plucked her almost ruined tome out of the mud, grimacing. It had maybe four or five preserved pages at best.

Chrom meanwhile was clipped by the lance in the shoulder as he rushed up to slice the horse's neck. Haura turned back to see that, before the horse could even go down, he jumped and stabbed upward to the cavalier in a single thrust. That hastiness and single-mindedness for the kill seemed somehow sloppier than the movements Haura had become so accustomed to. With a chill, Haura remembered his words in the strategy tent.

_"The other possibility is the men will seek vengeance and fight us until their deaths."_

_"If these are the type of men who love their leader to the grave, desperation hones the dullest blade."_

More Plegian soldiers had emerged right away and Haura's grip on her sword felt slick with her gloves on. Haura exhaled and settled her stance, like a certain myrmidon often did. If she could channel his finesse with the blade and his steadiness in battle, then these footsoldiers should pose little problem.

"Haura, are you ready? My strength is yours!" Chrom called out and Haura's glance towards him confirmed his strained expression, still so pained and yet confident in their strength. They were smeared in mud. The rain felt like tears on their cheeks. Haura's heart suddenly felt very, very full.

"We can do this! Chrom-" she yelled back and then the Plegian soldiers were upon them.

Chrom's Falchion sliced through an archer aiming at Haura and in a synchronized movement, they switched sides so Haura could blast the armored knight with two quick shots of lightning. In front of them, Sumia and Cordelia, two deadly white blurs, ripped through the rearguard mages.

Another wyvern rider dove out of the sky for Haura. She had been waiting for him to come into range and he was greeted with a thunder spell to his face before she dodged away from his charge. The tome disintegrated in her hands. Her hands reached for the hilt of her sword-

"Face me!" Chrom shouted as he jumped forward and cleaved both rider and wyvern with Falchion.

As the bodies fell, Chrom lowered Falchion as Haura unsheathed her sword again, blinking and panting in the rain. The adrenaline kept their hearts pounding. Haura's hood had fallen off and Chrom could see her pallid face. She looked grim as ever as she looked around. He almost did not hear her muttered, "Thanks."

Even now, Chrom felt his eyes being drawn to the sky instead of focusing on his tactician right in front of him. The sky had been so blue in the desert. Now the heavens wept for their beloved matyr, the only one worthy of words such as peace. But Emmeryn faced the Plegian people and faced the earth rushing up-

"Captain, Haura, it worked. We beat them!"

"Sumia?" Chrom exclaimed in confusion as rather than more Plegians, his own Shepards emerged from the murky darkness. Sumia was sporting a reddening burn down her leg and Cordelia had several wind-based cuts, but both wounds appeared to barely bother the girls.

"Tactical magicry." Haura explained wearily with a shifty hand motion. The rest of Chrom's group trooped up behind them after taking care of the remaining pegasus knights and wyvern riders. "Let's hurry quickly to the general's fort. Gaius and Tharja must have been waiting forever-"

A yell of pain split the air and all of them tensed. It had come from Frederick's group. Both pegasus knights kicked off into the air on instinct. Haura felt her stomach drop again. That voice… it could not be.

Sumia's panicked cry from the air drained the rest of her blood out of her face. "Lon'qu- he's majorly wounded and surrounded, oh, Captain-"

* * *

A/N: Honeypot - A trap where the agent is sexually seduced, usually to extract confidential information or capture/kill.

Stratagems borrowed from the Chinese military strategy essay, "Thirty Six Stratagems".


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Cordelia wasted no words and rocketed across the divide. Haura ran forward unthinkingly as if she too could lift into the air. "Sumia, take me to him!" she yelled upwards, ready to fly by dangling from her arm, if need be.

"Sumia, take Miriel!"

Chrom's voice stopped Haura in her tracks and the tactician spun on the spot. Sumia stared between them nervously as she descended to the ground.

"Come on." Miriel said in her tight voice as she stepped forward. Sumia threw one more uneasy glance before tugging Miriel onto the pegasus and taking off.

Haura stared at Chrom with a wild look in her eyes. "Why didn't you let me go?" she demanded.

"Haura..."

"Oh, I know! I don't care that I don't have a tome. I don't care that I can't fight on a pegasus with a sword." she growled and stabbed her sword into the ground, mimicking his posture. "By the gods, Chrom, you charge ahead all battle, doing whatever you like, and when I need to help him, you tell me to not go?"

"Calm down, Haura!" Chrom shouted. He looked stricken at the panic in Haura's eyes. "Consider what you're saying. You snapped me back to my senses earlier; don't lose your own now."

Haura was taken aback for a moment before a bitter expression settled on her face. "Did I really? My words of caution hardly ever reach you. You have not stopped looking to the sky this entire time." she said, half to herself and half to Chrom.

"...Is this what this is about? By the gods, I wish that I could stop thinking about it and stop seeing it again and again!" Chrom croaked and his voice cracked at the end. Haura's guilt crashed down like a wave and her face lost its hardness. Chrom approached Haura so they were but a hand width apart and Haura's vision was filled Chrom's distressed face. "No matter how fast I ran...The only reason I haven't lost my head completely is because of you and the Shepards. So damned if I let you charge into an ambush with nothing but your anger."

The expression on his face, hovering on that fine line of tenderness and suffering, was too much and Haura had to look away.

Chrom retreated a couple steps back. The space between them grew larger. Her mind rationalized her emotions- they were both suffering from failed confidence, from the emotional destruction of the day, from a war they no longer knew how to fight-, but that hardly stopped her from feeling them, from making her hands clench, her stomach roil, and her teeth grit. She no longer knew who to blame, herself or Chrom or Gangrel or even Naga.

"Haura, you know he'll be fine..."

"I just... need one moment." she managed and her artificial calm tone granted Chrom some measure of relief. "You should go on ahead with Virion. I will rejoin you when my head clears."

Chrom nodded and closed the distance between them again to clap a hand on her shoulder. "We've..." he looked as if he was trying to give one of those charismatic rally speeches, the ones that normally lifted the army's spirits. But she could see that he had not the heart to weave pretty lies at the moment. Chrom shook his head and dropped his hand. "I'll see you soon."

Haura managed a tight smile that did not reach her eyes, "I'm sorry. Stay focused." she advised half-heartedly. And then he was gone with Virion running after him. The archer shot her a pitying look as he glanced back, but Haura quickly averted her eyes. And now she was all alone.

Frederick had often lectured during sparring practice that showing emotion to an enemy soldier was the quickest way to lose composure and suffer defeat. Laughing, Chrom had claimed Frederick only smiled when his axe came down. Haura had seen that rare smile, soft, when Frederick watched over his charges, but he never displayed much more than his cool demeanour in the training arena or on the battlefield. However, she had not seen him much after Emmeryn's death and she wondered if he had cried in the rain.

What was more likely was he kept moving forward, determined to keep Chrom out of Gangrel's reach, to fulfill his duty with the unflappable strength he possessed in his heart and body.

"Suppress it." The Frederick in her mind urged. Knighthood and honor carried him above all else. He was Chrom's knight. She was his tactician. They were their duties first and foremost in war. She had already resolved to choke down her emotions with the lingering remains of the lollypop earlier that day. She needed that deceit until she could be sure they would live to see the next sunrise and, commitment solidified, she moved forward.

Haura tugged her sword out of the ground, cleaned the grime off with the edge of her coat, and sheathed it. She rubbed away the rain from her eyes with her pale, damp forearm. Then, she started running after Chrom and Virion's retreating backs.

They were on the battlefield. Distraction, be it her own emotions or her commander's, always culminated in mistake and further pain. The unusually high number of near casualties today had proven so much. As Haura ran, she pondered that thought. Nowi had been with them only for two battles now and Haura could believe that she got carried away and reckless in her fight. But between Frederick, Lon'qu, and Sully, all seasoned and wary warriors, Haura hardly thought even a silent wyvern rider would startle them, let alone enough to surround one of their own.

"You would think Cordelia or Sumia would come give us a status update." Haura muttered out loud. It had been more than several minutes and Haura did not think Gangrel's army or even a large bulk of reinforcements could have made it past the Feroxi lines-

Unless more had always been there.

Haura skidded to a stop as she saw Chrom and Virion marching towards the fort. To their right were more crumbling old forts, ones that they had assumed were abandoned. They were nothing like normal Plegian forts, with most of the walls gone and no real watchtowers. In the rain, they had not even really realized the difference between rock formation and building. But Haura saw now the crevices and the shadows that could easily hide the reinforcements from their view. Haura remembered there had been those same crumbling structures at the entrance of the ravines and if the enemy had been hiding there all along, that was how Lon'qu was surrounded and that was why neither pegasus knights could spare the other to fly back. This is what she got for being careless on enemy territory!

"Chrom, they're hiding in the forts!" Haura yelled but she was too far away. As she started sprinting faster, pulling her sword out, Chrom and Virion stepped right into range by the fort. A cavalier materialized from the shadows and charged for them.

Virion danced out of the way as Chrom's sword hits his opponent's with an ugly clang. The swords screeched apart as the horse reared to trample on Chrom. He hit the ground in an evasive tumble backwards. Behind him, Virion released his arrow. It pierced through the space where Chrom had just been standing, to plant itself in the cavalier's shoulder. He let out a groan of pain. The recoil jerked his arm and he tugged a hard right on his horse's reins. Chrom sprang up to thrust into the cavalier. Their blades locked again as the enemy's momentum added torque his sword, breaking Chrom's line of attack. The horse spun in on itself and reared up to charge again. Chrom quickly dodged to the side, skidding in the swampwater, readying his counterattack-

Then, Chrom realized he was not the cavalier's target.

"Virion!" Chrom yelled as he leapt forward to draw attention, to attack, but the cavalier rushed onward. Virion grimaced but fired his nocked arrow unflinchingly. His horse took the next arrow between the plates of its armor, screaming and snorting, but still did not stop.

"Back off!" Haura yelled and she skidded to Virion's side in a spray of mud, catching the blade with her own. The weight behind the sword swing and her uneven landing made Haura's knees buckle and she was knocked to the ground.

"Over here!" Chrom's angry voice rang out from behind the cavalier and this time his swing ripped through the soldier's back. The cavalier gasped and died falling forwards across the horse. The horse, crazy with blood and a fresh arrow wound, bolted with its master's corpse into the gloom before either of them could capture it.

"My deepest thanks, milady," Virion said and, although he still used the full force of his lofty tone, the pitch of his voice had risen half an octave. He pulled her up from the ground, bent down to kiss her hand, and realized it, like most of Haura, was covered in mud. "Do forgive me, but- ah," he began, looking quite perplexed. Haura let out a breathy laugh and slapped him on the shoulder, leaving a brown handprint on those white sleeves.

"No thanks is needed. I'm glad I just got here in time." She said with a wan smile. Then, she turned to Chrom with a frown, "This was their trap. They've been lying in wait in those forts the whole time."

Chrom pieced together what she had figured out immediately and scowled. "If they had not, they would have never gotten the jump on us."

Haura looked at the dilapidated masonry where the soldiers must have crouched in the damp rain in secret for hours. It was a tactic that depended a lot on the dedication of the individual soldiers.

"Anyway, we're close. Let's send up the signal for Gaius-"

As she continued to stare absentmindedly over Chrom's shoulder, the wet stones of the fort glimmered in the rain. Or was that-? She blinked away the rain that had blown into her eyes.

"Haura, are you listening-" Chrom glanced over his own shoulder to the forts.

She was not mistaken.

"Watch out!" Haura shouted. She shoved him to the side and Chrom saw Haura's wide eyes clearly in that breath of a moment, trembling with fear. Her sword was already out, ready to shield her, but the amount of force she needed to knock him over overbalanced her and she slipped in the muck. The javelin, meant for him, caught her shoulder, breaking through the armor underneath her coat, and she was knocked back by impact, slamming into the mud on her back. The fall knocked the wind out of her lungs.

"I'm...okay." she rasped when her voice returned to her and she struggled to rise but Chrom barely heard her words. The flutter of her robes as she fell looked white and green to Chrom. Her hair in its wet, clumped state seemed to glisten like gold. And her face was Emm's in death.

He screamed and lunged knight was too far but if he just moved a little faster before the second spear could reach Haura-

Captain! A white pegasus swooped down from the skies and blocked Chrom's path, nearly knocking him over. Sumia let out a war cry and her lance broke the knight's armor in a loud crack. The knight stumbled back but readied his throwing arm and Sumia had to back up a little for the speed of another strike. Before the knight could throw the spear, Chrom dashed in and deflected the weapon with Falchion. Sumia lunged forward to drive her lance through the knight. The soldier fell backwards, but Sumia and Chrom were already hurrying to Haura's side. Virion had pulled her onto drier ground and held the javelin lodged in her side in place to prevent the wound from opening up more.

She could not feel her right hand anymore. Her shoulder engulfed her body in pain. Haura sobbed as another wave of pain swept over her. Cursing, Virion fed her elixir in between her gasps and babbling. Several times, she choked and coughed and the pain rippled through her body as she shifted. It hurt so badly, she just wanted it to stop, oh gods-

With her face tilted up to the rain, the world became a wash of dull colors. Haura tried to raise her left arm to grab the spear towering above her but Virion's strong fingers had gently pushed her back down. Her mind felt hazy.

Another hot flash of pain. She believed that this was the end. Her sword arm- by Naga, she hoped they did not cut it off- would be useless. Her tactics had failed them. Her eyes filled with more tears as her heart beat irregularly and too loud in her ears.

Virion was saying something, but Haura could not hear his words. Her thoughts scattered each time she tried to form them. She whimpered in pain. Chrom and Sumia's face swum above her. Her left hand, gloveless and pale and smooth, groped for someone to cling on. Warm, rough fingers, sticky with sweat and blood, seized hers. The last words she did not know she had fell from her lips. "Chrom… everyone… forgive me."

xx

They only heard the complete story much later, of how Tharja had sent up a flare and how Cordelia, with Maribelle, had flown over and through enemy lines at breakneck speeds to reach the others. On the way, Cordelia had seen the motionless group of Shepards huddling. When they touched down to see the problem, they were hailed as a miracle.

Chrom, Sumia, and Virion had rushed to the fort. Instead of a battle, however, they found Gaius and Tharja with a dead commander and numerous Plegian soldiers laying down their arms. The general had apparently used his last words to ask for the lives of his men and ceasefires were rallied all across the battlefield.

The unexpected surprises had not ended there. The younger sister of the knight that speared her shoulder had appeared in front of Chrom as they were loading into the carriages and asked for her brother's javelin. "Something to show Ma. So she knows to mourn him as a hero who was loyal to his end." She said, with her eyes cast downwards and her fists clenched. She was Lissa's age, but with none of the cheerful levity. She stood in full armor, a proud soldier, even without her wyvern or axe. Had she been in the vanguard, Chrom would have not hesitated to cut her down, regardless of her youth.

She might have known he was the one who killed his brother. Or perhaps she had only heard the proud rumor that Ylisse's tactician had been downed by a javelin and knew better than anyone of the lazy afternoons they practiced throwing axes and lances in their training grounds. How many of her comrades and friends had died at their hands for a king they did not love? And if this young soldier tried to throw her lot in with the deserters in hopes for peace, she surely would be cut down as a traitor to Gangrel.

The Plegian wvyern rider looked up as Chrom continued to stay silent. Her face must look like his, Chrom realized, from the sullen eyes, dulled with anger towards her sibling's murderer, to the thin mouth, set in resolve but without direction.

He granted her request.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The absence of the rain awoke Haura. What had become an expected white noise had disappeared, finally, after three straight days. Instead, the crisp sounds of camp buzzed around her with pots banging, horses and pegasi trotting, and a slew of indecipherable voices. Feroxi air had a tang to accompany its chill that made her itch to move. Inside the infirmary, however, was silence. Nowi with her quick regenerative abilities had skipped out the next morning. The other wounded from their campaign against the Plegian castle had been treated long ago.

Only she and Lon'qu remained, both against their will. He had suffered multiple lacerations down his body from protecting Nowi and Maribelle during the unexpected rear attack. Seeing he had re-opened some of his wounds when he snuck away to train, he had been ordered to stay extra days in the infirmary as punishment. Haura, on the other hand, was told she could not leave for another week and a half. Then there was to be the months of physical therapy afterwards.

Not that she could even walk out the door at the moment, if she wanted to. Everything hurt. Multiple times, Haura had woken up to stabbing, unbearable pain and she had to clench her teeth and stare at the ceiling as her eyes watered and she wanted to scream. Thank the gods that they had not needed to take off the arm. But, the painstaking four hours they took in piecing together the shattered fragments of bone and the torn muscle still brought a sheen of sweat to Haura's forehead. Even properly inebriating herself with Ferox's finest mead did not make the pain entirely disappear. And Maribelle had refused to say whether it would even be possible for her to wield a sword or channel magic with that arm again.

Her hand could flex its fingers but it had no strength to even grip a pen without pain exploding down her shoulders and neck. Nor could she sit up without her shoulder protesting at the deadweight of her arm. Haura knew and Maribelle concurred that Haura could no longer fight as a soldier in the war. Sure, she might be able to cast magic, if she held the tome between her teeth, but she was in no condition to march or react in combat.

Haura had not been conscious when Chrom heard the news, but Maribelle had, in her respectful tone reserved only for House Ylisse and the "upper crust", told her the prince had not let go of her left hand the entire time they operated on her shoulder. Haura remembered the feeling of wet, sticky blood in between her fingers and, as she held her hand up to her face, she examined her left hand closely for the first time. It did not have the tattoo of her right hand and its skin was less callused. The ripples of channeled magic, invisible to the eye, did follow her palm lines, however. Her left hand had always been her aiming and casting hand whilst her right had been her sturdy sword arm. Now this left hand would have to double for both.

Maribelle affirmed that the pain meant she was healing normally and that there was hope she could regain full use of her arm someday. But only, and Maribelle's scolding voice had risen in pitch, if she stopped spending all the time holding maps above her face when she should be resting. Haura had nodded along, but whenever Maribelle left, she pulled them out again. She had even managed to convince Lon'qu to grab her strategy books after catching him sneaking out in the middle of the night to train.

Spending the nights in the same hall as him made her remember how little he slept and how early he rose. Haura thought fondly back to the time when she had stayed up all night to figure out his sleep schedule.

It had been during the first phases of her plan to desensitize him to her presence. She had gleefully pelted him with figs during the long training hours he kept, all to establish contact while still being far enough for his comfort. That following night, she crept into his tent when no one else was awake, arms full of gathered fruit, took aim, and let them fly. He jumped awake as the first fig made contact, unsheathing his sword, and crossed the distance between them in a single stride. Haura stumbled back into the outside moonlight as he charged at her. Right before he was going to strike her down, he had realized who she was.

Haura would never forget the way his killing intent turned into dumbfoundedness and the way his eyes under his sleep-mussed hair had blinked. They were so physically close that she could see the lines underneath his eyes. He had been the one to step within the circle of ten paces! Haura felt like a genius. Granted, he had only done so to try and kill her, but details, details.

She had used their close proximity to nail him with a fig in the face. He had sputtered and growled as the overripe, sickly sweet fruit slid down his face, and kicked her out by waving his sword in her face, threatening to skewer her even if she was the army tactician. Haura had not been able to stop cackling all the way back to her tent.

Well, perhaps she was the only one who found it to be a good memory.

Afterwards he started properly sparring and training with her to, he reasoned, deter her from any more mad gambits. It meant a lot to her that they now could exchange dry jokes and he did not flee to the furthest cot. He might not have Lissa's natural humor or Gaius' sarcastic wit, but Haura found herself laughing at his deadpan one liners or grumpy protests.

Despite the brief moments of levity, the enormous drain of energy that recovering had put on her body, and the fitful nights of sleep meant Haura had little energy to pull together a coherent strategy for a cot in an infirmary. Usually she would have had Chrom, whose ideas augmented her own, and Frederick, who always safeguarded her unorthodox methods. But they were away, busy struggling with the situation in Ylisstol in the aftermath of the exalt's death. She could only write slewed letters with her non-dominant hand and so, to make sure she would not forget some key information, she had started bouncing ideas off Lon'qu.

It was a departure from her normal process in developing strategy, but the change had been beneficial so far. Whenever she got stuck on how to apply some abstract theory she had pulled from a book, she forced herself to explain the entire plan and all its scenarios out loud and step by step to him. Lon'qu had first suggested the idea and Haura found out Basilio had done a similar system of counsel, except with betting on brawls. She had been skeptical, but Haura quickly found that just having him there and hearing her own thoughts out loud often solved whatever problem she'd been having.

While he was normally accommodating to her out-of-the-blue demands to hear her out (likely because there was nothing better to do), the second hour past midnight was not that time. She had woken up with a dream of an idea after having fallen asleep pondering the question. As she turned the thought over and over again in her head, a groan from Lon'qu drew her attention. She turned her head to see that he was tossing and turning in the bed.

Haura had read several texts on the night terrors of soldiers and had experienced it once before. It was no surprise that warriors like Lon'qu who had seen so much bloodshed in their life have the occasional bad dream. He muttered names and phrases in a language she was unfamiliar with. The only part she understood was his plea: "No, no, NO!". It was painful to watch.

Haura had called his name, first quietly, and then loud enough that it echoed around the room. When he sat up with a gasp, clutching his head, she closed her eyes and pretended she was still asleep.

Other visitors came and went. Basilio came in with tankards of mead, only to set upon by an irate Maribelle. Lon'qu had buried his face in his pillow in embarrassment and Haura could not stop giggling as Maribelle sent Ferox's West Khan, who was twice her size, out of the infirmary. Sumia entered, hidden behind an armload of books and claiming Haura needed to read something other than maps and treatises on war. She promptly tripped over a bedpost, dropping all of them. When Haura pointed out she could not read novels as a break if her arm was already tired from holding up her strategy books, Sumia spent the next hour reading the Ribald Tales of the Faith War out loud. Lon'qu made a strangled noise several times from the next cot over and Haura was redder than her hair by the end of it. Still, she and Sumia had both burst out laughing several times during one torrid scene with the icy, manakete lover and the male ingenue and Haura could have sworn she heard a faint grunt of amusement from the other cot.

Gaius had dropped by to distract her during subsequent healing sessions with little stories of his thieving life from the eccentric handlers that hired him to the crazy night shows he had to sneak into. He had crashed weddings, looted a treasury (he refused to disclose which nation's, but Haura knew from his description of the surroundings it had to be Ylisse), and had some of the best taffy in his life from this crone that lived by the sea. Still, Gaius had nothing on Basilio, who had traveled both suspiciously far and in all sorts of odd company. His short visit, this time without the alcohol, meant only to check up on his champion and Chrom's tactician, turned into a several hour journey into Basilio's mad adventures.

"I can't believe you just joined a band of sellswords and didn't tell your council-" Haura gaped. And she thought Chrom was bad when it came to throwing caution into the wind! Basilio simply laughed heartily and some part of Haura thanked the gods Flavia was the current Khan. "How did Ferox function when you were Khan?"

"You're as uptight as Lon'qu over here, Haura! Youth is meant to be enjoyed. You're going to give yourself grey hairs and wrinkles on that pretty face. And bah, what do I see here, more strategy books and maps?"

Haura shot a suspicious look at Lon'qu who sat at the edge of his bed, a comfortable distance away. "Lon'qu, what on earth did Ferox do when he was gone?"

Lon'qu snorted and Basilio let out that deep throaty chuckle. "Oh, that's a good story." Basilio rumbled.

"The last time, I was dragged in front of the council, questioned, and then I lost my temper and challenged a senior general to a duel." Lon'qu said.

"I can't believe it! Did you win?" Haura exclaimed with a laugh.

Lon'qu was taken aback by Haura's glee and turned his head away in that nervous tilt. "Yes. I bested him and became regent until Basilio returned." he affirmed.

"Flavia was furious! She threatened to poke my other eye out after she found out. She even brought in some of my old rivals as her champions that year- not that it worked, ahaha! But Lon'qu did a fine job. I was pretty sure the council was disappointed I came back so early. I would have spent a little more time in that bed with fine company had I known."

"I did nothing impressive. I knew very little of Ferox's politics and spent most of the time trying to learn it. And Flavia was...terrifying to deal with." Lon'qu said and in the last sentence, behind his voice was more than just his normal anxiety regarding women.

"Yeah, I can't imagine having Flavia angry at you be anything but terrifying." Haura agreed, before the incongruency lined up in her head. "Wait, this was before your previous tournament? That was five years ago. Which was- Lon'qu, were you regent when you were not even twenty? That's incredible, if ridiculous! Chrom is barely twenty-one and all the senior generals grumble already."

"It was just a week. Nothing happened. I'm not some lord, Haura." Lon'qu said modestly.

"Lass, if you're old enough to fight grown men, you're old enough to rule a nation! Emmeryn became exalt at, what, nine years old? " Basilio chuckled as Haura frantically shook her head.

"This just confirms two things. One, I'm glad we're not fighting a war against Regna Ferox. Two, I don't understand your government. It's ridiculous, making children rule nations and fight wars." Haura said with a huff.

"Oh, and how old are you, Haura? You still look like a runt to me! You look young enough to be my daughter." Basilio challenged with a glint in his eye.

"That's nonsense. I'm...oh. I have no idea." Haura said in surprise. She had not thought of her age once since joining the Shepards and just assumed based on personality where she had fit in agewise. "Oh gods, I could be Lissa's age with this face, couldn't I?"

Lon'qu made a face. "Definitely not. A conniving person like you? You are not almost a decade younger than me."

"Hey! Well, for all you know, I could be your elder!" Haura exclaimed in mock offense. Lon'qu smirked. Basilio just laughed again.

"All these little kids running around, makes me feel old. I'm just kidding, there's nothing but youth in this big brown heart! Hell, none of you can call me gramps until you can wrestle me to the ground."

"Well, that's never happening with this arm. So I'll have to settle for 'pops'." Haura teased.

"You little-!"

"Haura, I'm back. How are you faring?" Chrom rushed over to her bedside with Lissa, Flavia, and Frederick.

"Oh, Chrom, it is good to see you. I have some plans I want to go over with you." Haura exclaimed as she waved at him with her left hand. She had not seen Chrom in the last four days as he had gone east with most of the Shepards back to Ylisse, trying to cobble the haildom's defenses together in the wake of Emmeryn's death and the mass confusion that had broke out across the country. She could not travel with him, however, as her shoulder had not set enough to endure even the rocking of a carriage. She had tried to push for a war council meeting the day before Chrom departed. But it had only been a day after she awoke and she overestimated herself, nearly passing out again during the meeting. The only thing she could really recall was that there had been a lot of crying.

"But your injury-?" Chrom pressed. He felt guilty about the whole thing, even though Haura was pretty sure it had been her bad luck more than anything.

"-means I just have to work harder as your tactician since I can't fight by your side. I'm not going to die, Chrom. Frederick, can you raise me up? I don't want to be laying here anymore."

"Of course." Frederick slipped his hands underneath Haura's back from the left side and gently pulled her up with effortless strength. Ever attentive to details, he even grabbed some pillows and slipped them behind her. She muttered her thanks as she piled her hair to her left shoulder. Haura wished she could pull it back into her normal ponytail, to get her focused but it was near impossible with one hand.

"Let's get started. I fear we don't have much time." Flavia said and Chrom nodded, backing away to stand center in the crowd.

Looking at her commander, eye to eye, Haura realized how haggard they all looked. None of them looked as if they had slept or rested or even bathed after the last battle. Seeing Chrom like this felt sort of like staring at a cobbled up portrait from the peripheral of her vision. Numbness had set into his tone, his motions, and his body and he still seemed to stare right through people. His voice was without inflection as he addressed the room at large, "I have assumed temporary power of Ylisse for the remaining duration of the war. Our spies report Plegian armies have been marching towards our southeast borders."

"No doubt Gangrel intends to conquer all of Ylisse while the shock of exalt's death is still present. And then he will come for us next, after fattening himself up in the winter on Ylissean spoils." Flavia said with a scowl. "But there was one piece of welcome news. Tell her. She needs to know."

Everyone who had been in Ylisstol focused on Lissa. Chrom's composure cracked as he walked over to his sister and put a hand on her shoulder. His voice had become a scratchy whisper. Haura wondered what good news could make Chrom look as if he was about to break down.

"I have good news, Lissa. When I was in Ylisstol, Marth came. She...brought us Emm's body, along with other Plegian soldiers fleeing Gangrel's tyranny."

"She risked her life to make sure that dastard Gangrel's dirty hands could not dishonor your sister. Basilio, you will never hear me say this again, but you sure know how to pick your champions." Flavia affirmed.

Basilio boomed, "Of course!"

Lissa looked up at Chrom with wide eyes. "So, we can bury her…we can give her rites. She's home now, right, Chrom?" And then she burst into tears. Chrom wrapped his arms around her, tight, and hid his own crying face in her hair. The khans averted their gaze in respect and Haura leaned back to stare at the ceiling, willing her tears to recede. These two siblings now only had each other in the world. No, that was wrong. Frederick stood stalwartly next to them as always and Haura could see, out of the corner of her eye, Shepards quietly filing into the room. But no matter how much of Chrom and Lissa's hearts they filled with their love, all of Ylisse together could not become Emmeryn.

"Chrom, I… I wanted to apologize. To you. My plan just wasn't enough." Haura began once the two broke apart and Chrom recomposed himself.

"You did your best, Haura… You have my thanks. I'm the reason you have a hole in your shoulder now. It's my own failures that haunt me now. Gods, I was just so powerless!" Chrom said, biting into his words with a pained expression.

"No, listen to me. It's not your fault either. It was Emmeryn's decision. She had...more resolve and courage than any of us." Haura said with a rising panic in her voice. She could tell she was losing him again to his devastation.

"...She did it for me, Haura. So that I wouldn't have to live with the guilt of either choice, she chose for me. She sacrificed herself rather than give up what could one day save her people."

"Are you angry with her, Chrom?" Haura asked, almost in a whisper, half-afraid with the answer. Everyone in the room stared at her in surprise but she kept her eyes on Chrom.

He too was taken aback. "No, I mean, how could I be?" he struggled before spitting out, "...But at the same time, how could she do this? I should have died long before she even had to risk her life! How could she just- no, I refuse to have these irrational thoughts. I already made you yell at me once for betraying the Shepards with my negligence."

"Milord, never-"

"Wait, we never expected-"

"Captain, you did nothing wrong-"

The explosion of titters from the crowd of Shepards made Chrom jump. The faces of their friends were all insistent, hopeful, determined, and Chrom's face warmed. Haura made up her mind. She had plenty of long hours to mull over their next strategic move, but to be Chrom's tactician was more than a bunch of instructions to regiments. It had taken the time and the distance between them so Haura could now see the whole picture.

She spoke once the clamor had died down, having folded her hands in her lap and rubbing circles over the mark on the back of her right hand. "Chrom, you didn't make me do anything. This is the second thing I wanted to apologize for. I had no reason to yell at you. But I blamed myself. I leaned on you when you were the one who needed support. And I grew angry with you to hide my fears because I had failed you in every way, as a friend and a tactician." she said and her voice trembled as each word had to be dredged up from her heart. She bowed, tangled hair falling forward, even as her shoulder burned, and when she lifted her eyes to Chrom's, he looked distressed all over again, avoiding her gaze.

"Haura…"

"Chrom, please listen and look at me."

Her voice grew in strength as she spoke. It was as she was learning to walk again and, feeling the wind on her face, breaking into a sprint. This was the path her feet would always carry her to. Gaius, Sumia, Lon'qu, Lissa, Sully, Frederick, so many faces she had come to know and care for, that depended on her for their lives in battle and that gave her arms, filled with kindness and love, to fall back to. They had given her the answer and now she only had to make Chrom see it as well.

"I have not given up. Nor, I know, have you. I was powerless once too, remember? And yes, alone, I don't think either one of us is half the person your sister was. But together… maybe we can be something more. If you fall, I'll be there to pull you back up. When you fight for your sister's ideals, I'll be by your side. You don't have to become your sister, you know. You can still be true to yourself. You just have to give people hope in whatever way you can."

His voice wavered as the lingering doubt emerged, "And what if I can't? What if I'm not worthy of her ideals? Haura, what if I drag you down with me? I won't have you sacrificing your life for my sake." he said as he faced her, completely serious. Haura wanted to laugh, although it would be ill-timed. No one would worry about the reputation or honor of a no-name amnesiac found in a field.

"Chrom, if you asked a couple days ago, I would have said I would take another javelin for you in a heartbeat." Haura said with a wry smile.

"Ahaha, changed your mind after a couple days in the infirmary? I don't blame you." Flavia chuckled.

"I'm not going to die when I have to watch my commander's back. And I know you'll watch mine. Chrom, if you're not worthy, you'll keep at it until you are. And if we both fall down, well, that's what friends are for, isn't it?" Haura said and let out a tired smile, sinking back into the pillows. As the Shepards mobbed him, affirming their love for their commander, grabbing his shoulder, ruffling his hair, slapping him on the back, Haura's smile became a full grin. When finally they settled down, Chrom straightened up and Haura could see the clarity in his eyes again.

"Thank you all. Truly. You honor me with your fealty. I will not falter again. We shall answer this outrage! The Mad King must be stopped!" He declared and the Shepards' cheers were deafening.

Only one tear escaped Lissa's eyes as she punched her fist into the air with everyone else. Sully and Vaike picked up Ricken and Maribelle, to their intense protest, and held them high above the crowd. Nowi climbed onto Virion's shoulders herself, throwing both hands into the air. Lon'qu, Basilio, and Flavia roared a Feroxi battlecry and Cordelia and Sumia shouted for the pegasus knights.

Chrom's eyes alighted as he looked to his beloved Shepards. Then, his gaze fell on Haura who was smiling as tear after tear ran down her cheek. She made a fist with her left hand and raised it up. With determination all across his face, he returned the gesture. It was a promise to their future.

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap. What started as a oneshot quickly took on a life of its own and I don't think I mind. Hopefully you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Why have romance fics when you can have intense friendship and tragedy instead? U

Thank you all who read to the end! I have the deepest appreciation for all my readers. I'd love to hear what you think, as well.

Look forward to the next one and I'll see you there! ^^


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